Mark Linn – News Editor
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UAB:
UAB was named the top ranking school in Alabama by the U.S. News and World Report in their annual edition of the Best Global Universities, according to UAB was ranked 200th in the world and landed in the top 75 U.S. universities. It also ranked 25th in microbiology, 27 in immunology and 50 in clinical medicine. The Best Global Universities ranking system weighs factors that measure a university’s global and regional reputation, academic research performance using bibliometric indicators, and school-level data on faculty and Ph.D. graduates.
International:
A coalition of labor union leaders, businesspeople, lawyers, and human rights activists in Tunisia known as the National Dialogue Quartet were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 9, according to the New York Times. The Quartet emerged during the tumultuous Jasmine Revolution which began in 2011. The Jasmine Revolution was part of the broader Arab Spring, in which protests erupted across the middle east that led to the ouster of several authoritarian governments. The Quartet was formed in 2013, during a time of social unrest and several political assassinations. The Nobel Committee said that the Quartet was instrumental in establishing “…a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.”
Science:
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three chemists for their work in studying DNA repair, according to Vox. Dr. Tomas Lindahl, Dr. Paul Modrich, and Dr. Aziz Sancar studied how cells repair damaged DNA and safeguard genetic information. They discovered that DNA is damaged constantly through everyday exposure to temperature changes and UV rays from the sun. This led to the discovery the cells have means of repairing themselves at the molecular level. These discoveries are credited with changing the understanding of the fundamentals of cell biology and DNA, as well as bringing the possibility of further research into how these mechanisms can fail and bring about diseases such as cancer and problems related to aging.
Alabama:
An Alabama probate judge has filed a petition with the state Supreme Court that says that the federal government, and not state offices, should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to ABC News. Judge John Enslen of Elmore County asked the Alabama Supreme Court to order judges statewide to not issue or recognize marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which he says violates the state constitution.
